Funambulatory

1728, Ephraim Chambers, Cyclopædia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, Volume 1, p. 107, under FUNAMBULUS, In the Floralia, or Ludi Florales, held under Galba, there were funambulatory Elephants, as we are inform’d by Suetonius.

1868, Review of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Nathan the Wise, translated by Ellen Frothingham, North American Review, Volume 106, Number 219, April 1868, p. 705, At a time when Gottsched and his compeers seemed hopelessly infected with Gallomania, and the temple of the Muses had degenerated into a funambulatory platform, on which unwieldy Teutons […] were emulating agile Frenchmen in dancing on the tight-rope of pseudo-classicism, Lessing appeared, and with a dramaturgical scourge of small cords drove the mimes from the stage, shifted the scene, and inaugurated a new era for German art and culture.

Men walking the streets suddenly staggered as if drunk, and extended their arms involuntarily, as rope-dancers do. One of them said that after this funambulatory experience he was downright seasick and hadn’t felt well since.

Tread softly and circumspectly in this funambulatory track and narrow path of goodness […]